Take Back the Night is March 20

The MacMurray College is hosting its 15th annual Take Back the Night commemoration at 7 p.m. March 20 in McClelland Dining Hall on the MacMurray campus.

Take Back the Night calls attention to violence in our daily lives: child abuse, harassment of gays and lesbians, dating violence, sexual abuse and racial discrimination.

The keynote speaker at the event is Margaret Oltman, prevention educator at the Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault in Springfield, IL. Her speech is titled “A World of Respect.” Much of the evening is devoted to personal narratives of audience members. This event will be interpreted for the deaf and hard of hearing.

“Many Take Back the Night events are focused only on sexual assault of women,” said Jeannie Zeck, associate professor of English and Theatre at MacMurray, who organizes the annual event. “That is certainly a very serious and common crime, and our event at Mac is inclusive of sexual assault,” Dr. Zeck continued. “In addition, Mac’s event calls awareness to all kinds of inter-personal violence and recognizes that people of both genders, all ages and all sexual identities can be victims. Our goal is to openly acknowledge the violence that exists in our homes and communities and put an end to it.”